Frank the Bunny

By far one of the darkest movies in recent times Donnie Darko. The cinematographer of this movie is Steven B. Poster, he does a fine job in keeping the main theme of a really dark and twisted film. He does this by making scenes with low light and for the most part the main parts of the movie take place either at dusk or night time, with very intimate settings with minimal action. Often going between very wide angle shots in order for the viewer to get a grasp of the seemingly dismal and bleak settings that the main character was in, then into a closeup shot of the subject, in this is where most dialog is made and with low key lights even the most angelic of expressions (smiles) come of as sadistic and dark. By using the low key light it gives a very deep expression by creating very deep shadows on the actor's faces.
In one specific scene Donnie is in the movie theater and he gets into a conversation with Frank the Bunny, a character from Donnie's imagination/alternate universe, it is in this scene they constantly shift between a wide shot of the entire theater in which you realize that it is only Donnie, a female companion, and Frank. This helps show how very lonely and dramatic the setting is, being all alone. They then go into close ups of Donnie's and Frank's face, by doing so this creates a very scary and awkward feeling to the point you kind of want to look away as the expressions on both actors faces seem extremely defined, this is done with the low key light creating one of the darkest scenes in the movie in my opinion.